Windows Users are Reminded to Move to Thunderbird Email Program

09/29/2005

Contributed by Karen Sunderland

ITS would like to remind Windows users that support for the Netscape Messenger email program will be discontinued as of October 17, 2005.

Last April ITS announced that Mozilla Thunderbird had been chosen to replace Netscape Messenger on Windows computers and many users have now made the transition to Thunderbird. Faculty and staff who are expecting to receive a new computer under Technology Renewal between now and October 17 should be aware that the computer will automatically be configured with Thunderbird and will not include Netscape Messenger.

The "Moving to Thunderbird Email Client” guide provides detailed instructions for downloading and installing Thunderbird, as well as transferring email messages, address books and other settings from Netscape 4.x and 7.x. For faculty and staff who are currently using an email program other than Netscape Messenger, ITS would be happy to try to assist with the transition to Thunderbird upon request. Please note that Thunderbird does not replace Ithaca College Webmail; if you are currently using Webmail as your primary means of accessing your email account, there is no need to begin using Thunderbird.

ITS recommends that students use the Webmail system, which provides easy access to email from any computer and requires no configuration of the local computer.

PDA users should note that synchronization with the Thunderbird address book is NOT currently available, though this functionality may be included in future versions of Thunderbird.

We are pleased to find that Thunderbird is proving to be an excellent program for managing email. If you have any questions about moving to or using Thunderbird, please contact the ITS Helpdesk at [mailto: helpdesk@ithaca.edu] or 4-3282.